Is Barneys too boring for Texas? New York retailer plans to close Dallas location — again

This is the second time Dallas has lost a Barneys; the first blow came in 1997. Everyone was in a dither when the 88,000-square-foot, two-level department store opened again in 2006. Is it possible that Dallas just doesn’t have a taste for it?

“Our hope for Barneys was that their merchandise mix would complement the offerings of our other retailers, and that their prime location within the shopping center and within the city would enable them to thrive,” NorthPark Center said in a statement.

“Since Barneys opened in 2006, NorthPark Center's total sales increased from approximately $715 million to $1.1 billion this year. While it is regrettable that Barneys is leaving, we have exciting possibilities for that space that we should be able to discuss soon.”

According to Women’s Wear Daily, CEO Mark Lee said back in May that, despite speculation that the Dallas store (plus units in Scottsdale, Arizona; San Francisco; and Las Vegas) wasn’t performing as well as the flagship in New York, Barneys had no plans to close any stores.

Barneys informed its employees this morning, and the company issued this statement:

“After careful consideration, Barneys New York has exercised its contractual right to terminate the lease for its Dallas location prior to its expiration. The store will remain open through early April 2013. Barneys’ operational and financial performance is strong, and we remain focused on investing in our flagship stores across the country as well as Barneys.com.”

Houston has had just as much of a bad experience with Barneys. A top-of-the-line Barneys store in the Galleria closed in the 1990s; Chanel took the space near Neiman Marcus.

And last year, a Barney Co-Op store, which specializes in demin and contemporary designers for younger fashion-forward shoppers, shut its Galleria location.

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